Reviews by SmashPants:

Appearance: deep copper. Not as dark as I was expecting. The head is a bit thin too, at less than one finger. Unimpressive.

Aroma: combination of chocolate and caramel malts, with some light spices.

Taste: pretty much follows the nose. A reasonably standard combination of malts and spices. Not unpleasant, but not worth what I paid.

Aftertaste: quite dry and bitter finish from the cocoa.

Mouth feel: awful watery mouthfeel with a moderate carbonation.

Overall: if this is a good example of American Brown Ales, I think I'll avoid - I'm hoping that Moorilla Estate has simply got it wrong. Moo Brew Dark is like a decent brown ale but watered-down to make it more like a watery dark lager. And at AU$105 a case (2012), this is a dead-set joke.

More User Reviews:

This was a very nice change of pace after drinking lighter lagers for a week in Australia. This ale pours dark with a short, chunky head. Light and refreshing with nice roasty undertones, great mouthfeel. Very drinkable, had several throughout the night.

Dark copper pour, small chalky head. I've never seen such a contrast between the head and the actual beer.Aroma is hop-centred: grapefruit and green/grassy notes. I'm guessing there was a fair whack of dry hopping. Some toasty/nutty/caramel notes are present in the background.Flavour is more malt oriented: toasty, almost roasted, with some more nutty hints. Some green hops present. The mix of hoppy/roasted bitterness lingers. A bit thin.Both body and carbonation are slightly lacking.I was quite impressed with this, even if it is a bit thin.

This beer is on tap in a few places in Hobart. This one was at the Lark's Distillery.

Poured into one of those stemmed lager glasses they seem fond of in Tasmania, it is a dark mahogany hue, with an avergage sized frothy head. The smell does not have the roasted malt aromas I'd expect, instead being more hoppy with some licorice (pleasant for a change). To taste it continues to be hops based without much roated malt characteristics.

I'm not sure what style to class this as, but I'm kicking myself that it's the one Moo Brew that you can't get in bottles, so this may be my only ever taste.

Clear deep copper/red in color. A bit lighter than many recent browns I've had. Thin lightly tanned head leaves a bit of lacing. Low to medium carbonation. Swirling the glass coaxes a decent sized froth to the beer.

Light honey and coffee/roast aromas. I remember this being much happier when I first tried it. Not much in the form of hops at all to start really. No dating on the bottle to check freshness.

Taste also missing the hop punch I remember. Still has a strong dark malt presence, a bit more than the color foreshadows. This dark malt combines with the hop bitterness to push it into harsh territory. Dry finish means little malt sweetness is left to balance it out.

Disappointed. When this beer first came out it really opened my eyes to the style. Not sure if this is an old bottle but the lack of hop flavor and aroma hurts badly. Will have to try it again soon and see if the chane was due to age or a shift in how the beer is made.

A- Ordinary brown color with a quickly dissipating khaki head (despite a hard pour),but there is residual lacing.

S- Nondescript bready malts, and a faint earthy spice

T-Shockingly strong dark roast, and almost tart and dry finish. This was not what I expected from the soft-ish nose, but I'm pleasantly surprised. Not as dense as the strong roast could handle, but sufficient for the style.

A-- Poured a dark reddish brown, in glass it is nearly black. Very short lived sandpaper brown color head. Swirl glass and head does come back. No bubbles on side or anything like that.

S-- Coffee, chocolate, cherry or stone fruit tones. Does have a bit of a watery smell to this.

T-- Roasted coffee, chocolate, some plum and cherry. Coffee taste is big and a bit overpowering. Very malty taste to this.

M-- Medium carbonation. Needs more of the fruit to come out. Feel like I am drinking an overdrawn watery espresso. Bitter in a lot of ways and not all that good.

D-- One is fine by me. This would actually be better if it was bigger. 5% is too small for this. If it was 8% and had more sweetness it would be fine. Too much coffee taste and not enough fruit again. I really like Brown Ales but this did not do much for me.

Moorilla is very expensive for the product they are putting out. A 4 pack for $20? Get real. The packaging and labeling, though excellent, do not justify it. Pale ale is good and worth drinking. Wheat is also decent. This is good but it is not exceptional and does not stand out real well.

a: very dark brown ale with little light shining through with thin head that nearly disappers
s: roasted coffee smell
t: like an amber ale with coffee, bitter aftertaste
m: medium body with bitter aftertaste, almost flat, not particularly smooth
d: great looking bottle like moo brews other offerings, but have to admit this one didn't do too much for me as the coffee taste overpowered everything else going on here

Taste has that slight sour note throughout, which casts a slight pall, but the pleasant flavours come through anyway. Chocolate notes, mild roast midway. Slightly spicy on the back. Mild overall but nice flavours. Actually the spice on the back is the winner. Dry, but revivifying in a big way.

Bit of carbonation, bit thin. But only a bit of both. Decent and it goes down.

Poured from the bottle to give a lovely creamy dark head which stayed around. Nice deep coffe colour and sweet malty aromas. Really good balance of sweetness from the malt and a bit of a dry hoppy finish. This is the first Amercian style dark ale I've tried and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Will look out for it again. Very distinguished looking bottle too.

I firstly gotta say i love this breweries arty labels and this brew's ABV is 5.0% anyways on to the beer,this beer pours a deep red sherry hue with nice carbonation that leaves a one finger head with a nice frothy mound of lacing,the smell is feint stonefruit and toffee malts,it has a nice medium bodied mouthfeel for the style and has tastes of toffee,caramel,feint chocolate and some nice roasted malts that finishes with a little hop bitterness,quite a nice example of the style and although no standout i could easily drink more than one of these.

About 56 case were made available for Victoria and we managed to pick up a handful. Fully priced at $5.80 per bottle. Pours nicely; darkish chocolate brown with a thin off-white head. Roasty notes on the nose, dry and quite mild. Very dry and tight palate, not a huge surprise given the nose. Some hop influence here, certaintly more detectable than any roast or chocolate from the hops. I actually don’t mind this character but it takes somne getting used to. Hops drive a fairly long finish.

A - Poured into a pint glass dark brown with ruby red tints when held up to light. A few centimetres of beige head that falls away slowly.S - Coffee, bitter chocolate with an underlaying, slightly citrusy american hop character.T - Just like the smell but all the flavours come out a lot more.M - Light to medium bodied with a fairly low carbonation.D - My favourite beer from these guys so far. I'll probably buy this again. Now if they only just stopped using that stupid & undoubtedly more expensive bottle...

Taste - 3.5Immediately recognisable as American brown ale in style due to the substantial bitterness, from both hops and roasted malt. Caramel, coffee and cocoa are there, but overall balance is towards the dry and bitter

OVERALL - 3.15A fairly tasty brown ale, but a little drier that I would like, as well as being somewhat thin and under-carbonated. I'd like to give it a second chance some time - it does have character.